"Naval vessels towed the Swedish boat Marianne av Göteborg into
Ashdod's port on Monday, where it was expected to arrive late Monday
night after commandos interdicted it without incident some 85 nautical
miles off the Gaza Strip Coast less than 24-hours earlier.

... three other vessels that set sail from Crete to accompany the boat and
document its journey turned back after the Marianne, with its 18
passengers, was stopped and boarded."

" Israel expressed “regret” at the Vatican's decision to recognize the
Palestinian Authority as a state and the signing of the accord, hinting
it could have implications for future cooperation between Israel and the
Vatican.

“This hasty step damages the prospects for advancing a
peace agreement, and harms the international effort to convince the PA
to return to direct negotiations with Israel,” the Foreign Ministry said
in a statement.

The statement said that Israel also regrets “the
one sided texts in the agreement which ignore the historic rights of
the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and the places holy to Judaism
in Jerusalem.”

" Nine people from Druze villages in northern Israel were arrested by
police overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday on suspicion they were
involved in attacks on ambulances transporting wounded Syrians for
medical care in the Golan Heights Monday.

One Syrian was killed and another severely wounded in the second attack,
after the military ambulance was set upon by a mob of about 150 local
residents, angry over rumors that Israel was aiding jihadist rebels..."

" The brutes who lynched a wounded Syrian in cold blood near the northern
Israeli village of Majdal Shams on Monday night almost certainly shot
their Druze brothers across the border in the foot.

Not only did the perpetrators of the act severely tarnish the image of
the Druze community and weaken Jewish Israelis’ feeling of concern for
members of the persecuted minority in Syria, the lynchers also likely
offered Sunni extremists in the war-torn region an excuse to avenge the
killing of a man who was, at least according to the Druze and the Syrian
regime, a fellow Sunni fighter..."

måndag 22 juni 2015

Israel's Foreign Ministry director-general Dori Gold Monday sent a
letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warning of the potential
conflict that may arise from the incoming flotilla expected to attempt
to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip next week.

"This attempt to challenge Israel's naval blockade of Gaza holds the
potential for dangerous consequences. The flotilla's sole purpose is to
create provocations that pose security risks, and constitute a breach of
international law," Gold wrote.

"The
State of Israel acted in accordance with international laws in
Operation Protective Edge, and did all it could to prevent harm to
civilians. Hamas and [the other] terror organizations are the ones who
chose to place weapons and missile launchers in the heart of civilian
areas, in mosques, hospitals, educational institutions, and other
places, and in more than a few cases, IDF soldiers refrained from
operating against these weapons caches out of concern of harming
noncombatants," Ya'alon stated."The attempt to compare Israel to Hamas, or to present Israel as
committing war crimes, is despicable. We will not tolerate the attempt
to tarnish the soldiers and commanders of the IDF, who operate in a
complex reality, but ensure that they safeguard moral values. In places
that we felt that there was a need to carry out checks by commanding
officers, or launch criminal investigation, we did not hesitate to do
so, out of our own initiative, and we have tried those who broke the
law," Ya'alon said.

Premiärminister Netanyahu:"The report is biased. The commission that wrote it is under a committee
that does everything but protect human rights," Netanyahu said at the
opening of a Likud faction meeting. "Israel defends itself according to international law and we are not the
only ones to say so," he added. "That statement is backed by a report by senior generals from the US and Europe. One general said no other country [than Israel] makes such efforts to uphold the law."

Israels viceutrikesminister Hotovely:The Human Rights Council is a body which has completely discredited
itself. From the outset, the purpose of this report was to vilify the
State of Israel and the IDF, with the ultimate aim of undermining
Israel’s right to defend its citizens from attack. "From the outset, the purpose of this report was to vilify the State of
Israel and the IDF, with the ultimate aim of undermining Israel’s right
to defend its citizens from attack.

The Human Rights Council is a
body which has completely discredited itself through its obsessive and
prejudicial preoccupation with Israel, whilst turning a blind eye to
genuine violations of human rights around the world.

The State
of Israel and the IDF scrupulously abide by the highest standards of
international law. Israel’s robust legal system ensures strict oversight
of military operations. The measures Israel took during the Gaza
Conflict to protect the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians are
without parallel among other military forces.

Israel is
exceptionally proud of its principled conduct and will maintain its
unswerving commitment to human rights and international law,
irrespective of the well-orchestrated campaign to besmirch its name."

Kulturminister Miri Regev said the only good decision the UN
ever made was on November 29, 1947 - recognizing a Jewish State - and
since then it forgot its purpose, to stop wars and help bring peace.

"I
would expect from the UN to call on Hamas to lay down its weapons for
the good of its own people, but, unfortunately, that did not happen,"
she stated. "Meanwhile, the UN chooses to ignore the massacre of the
Syrian people and the Iranian nuclear threat." "The IDF is the most
moral army in the world, and Israel will continue doing everything to
protect its citizens, despite the UN's biased reports," Regev added.

Opositionsledaren Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union)said that he does not need an international
report or committee to tell him that the IDF is a moral army.

"For
Hamas, killing innocent people is the main goal, and I can say from my
experience in many cabinet meetings that the question of harming
uninvolved and innocent people always comes up and it is a heavy
consideration in Israel's decisions," he said.

Ordförande för Yisrael Beytenu Avigdor Liberman said that "Israel does not
commit war crimes. The UNHRC and its committees are biased and made up o
people who constantly commit crimes against humanity, rewrite history
and distort reality in which there is a country fighting to protect its
children who are attacked by rockets by a terrorist organization who
shoots from concentrations of children."

“We challenge the very mechanism which created it,” John Kirby, the
State Department spokesman, said Tuesday, a day after the report’s
publication.

“And so we’re not going to have a readout of this,”
he said. “We’re not going to have a rebuttal to it. We’re certainly
going to read it, as we read all UN reports. But we challenge the very
foundation upon which this report was written, and we don’t believe that
there’s a call or a need for any further Security Council work on
this.”

The UN Human Rights Council, a body that Israel and the
United States say is biased and targets Israel more than any other
country, commissioned the report.

"But Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor said the UN response was inadequate.

“The UN as always issues a ‘balanced response’
and calls on both sides to show restraint,” he said. “The UN must cease
this objectionable practice, as only one of the sides bears
responsibility for the cruel murder.”

Prosor called the attack the most recent event in “a series of violent actions by Palestinians in the West Bank.

“Instead of advancing peace, Palestinian
leadership is encouraging incitement and destabilizing the region,” he
said. “The international community must demand that the Palestinians
stop the violence and avoid inflaming the situation.”

The Druse are in danger and Israel has an obligation to help them. On
June 10, Jabhat al-Nusra or the Nusra Front, a terrorist organization
affiliated with al-Qaida, killed at least 20 Druse in Qalb Loze, a
village in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

Tamir Hijawi, 41, the former paratroop officer on stage in Peki’in, in
the Upper Galilee, said the protests held on a daily basis by Israeli
Druse this week have been held to show their people in Syria they are
not alone, and footage of the demonstrations is being posted on
Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere.

Like others, he called on Israel
to give the Syrian Druse weapons and to open the border to allow
Israeli Druse to join the fight against jihadist rebels.

Hijawi
said whatever happens, the Syrian Druse will never abandon their
villages. “This is an existential war for them, they will die on their
feet before they run,” he said.

Minutes before he spoke, hundreds
of Druse men marched through the town waving the multi-colored flag of
the sect, escorted by young men in flag-draped cars and ATVs, chanting
“With blood and spirit we will liberate Sweida,” a reference to a
majority Druse city in southwestern Syria. They spoke of their desire to
fight in Syria no matter the odds, saying that a massacre of Druse is
already under way.

Syria is home to some 700,000 members of the
sect, mainly in Jebl Druse (the Druse Mountain) area in the southwest.
Israeli Druse are watching Sweida as well as the village of Hader, on
whose outskirts Nusra fighters are now mobilized.

"... The report includes 32 paragraphs on Israel, compared with eight on Iraq, 15 on Afghanistan, 18 on Syria and 11 on Darfur.Zerrougui's
report did not explicitly accuse Hamas of any crimes against children.
Several Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity that Israel
told Zerrougui's office how Hamas rockets severely damaged Israeli
medical centers and schools - details that were not mentioned.

The officials also accused the human rights groups that helped draft the report of bias."

"...But Israel was the only county he singled out for additional criticism and he made no mention of Hamas.

Netanyahu said, “Instead of mentioning the facts, that Hamas turned Gaza children into hostages by firing [rockets] at Israel.

“It
dug terror tunnels in the direction of kindergartens. [But] the UN has
chosen to preach to Israel, which has chosen to abide by international
standards,” Netanyahu said.

Earlier this week former generals
from the US and Europe declared that Israel had abided by international
law during the summer, Netanyahu said.

Far from adopting this
view, the “UN has granted Hamas immunity even though there is
incontestable proof that Hamas committed war crimes when it launched
rockets from hospital, mosques and UN facilities,” Netanyahu said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely [Likud] added, that such a one sided approach was "very disturbing.”

Hotovely
along with politicians from the center and the left of Israel’s
political map, including Meretz, immediately took exception to Ban’s
listing of Israel with the worst conflict zones.

“At a time when
ongoing hostilities are raging throughout the Middle East at an enormous
cost in terms of the lives of children and other civilians, this
statement drew a comparison between Israel and states that are among the
worst systematic violators of human rights," Hotovely said.

Yesh Atid Party head MK Yair Lapid said, “the words of the UN secretary-general are disconnected from reality.”

Ban
didn't mention, not even once, that Hamas used Palestinian children as
human shields so that it could launch rockets against Israeli children,
Lapid said.

Even Meretz MK Ilan Gilon spoke out against Ban and
charged that he had “lowered the moral foundation of any criticism the
UN and its organization would level against Israel.”

He added that “what Israel has forgotten about human rights, other countries under scrutiny have yet to learn.”

"...We agree with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General
Martin Dempsey, who following the Pentagon’s fact-finding mission to
Israel, went on record last November as saying that in the 2014 Gaza
conflict, “Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral
damage and civilian casualties”.Our overall findings are that during Operation Protective Edge last
summer, in the air, on the ground and at sea, Israel not only met a
reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed
conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard. We saw
clear evidence of this from the upper to the lower levels of command. A
measure of the seriousness with which Israel took its moral duties and
its responsibilities under the laws of armed conflict is that in some
cases Israel’s scrupulous adherence to the laws of war cost Israeli
soldiers’ and civilians’ lives.Signed by the members of the High Level International Military Group that visited Israel 18th – 22nd May 2015,

Giulio Terzi – former Foreign Minister of Italy.General Klaus Naumann – former Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.General Vincenzo Camporini – former Chief of the Defence Staff of Italy.Admiral Jose Maria Teran – former Chief of the Joint Staff of Spain.Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper – former US State Department Ambassador at Large for war crimes issues.Mr Rafael Bardaji – former National Security Adviser for the Spanish government.Lieutenant General David A Deptula – former Standing Joint Force Air Component Commander, United States Pacific Command.Major General Jim Molan – former Chief of Operations, Headquarters Multi National Force, Iraq and Commander of the Australian Defence College.Colonel Eduardo Ramirez – Member of Colombian Congress and former Chief of Security, Colombia.Colonel Vincent Alcazar – former senior United States Air Force officer in Iraq and Afghanistan.Colonel Richard Kemp – former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan.
31 May 2015

måndag 15 juni 2015

The 2014 Gaza Conflict: Factual and Legal Aspects - The Full Report
The 2014 Gaza Conflict was a peak in the ongoing armed conflict waged
against Israel for over a decade by terrorist organisations operating
from the Gaza Strip. This Report
provides information so that others may reach an informed understanding
of the reasons for the Conflict and the actions of the parties thereto.
On July 7, 2014, the Government of Israel ordered the Israel Defense
Forces to launch an aerial operation against Hamas and other terrorist
organisations in the Gaza Strip. This operation, termed “Operation
Protective Edge”, was launched in response to increasing rocket and
mortar fire on Israel from the Gaza Strip during June and early July
2014, and despite Israel's continued efforts at de-escalation.

On
July 17, 2014, as a result of Hamas's continued rejection of ceasefire
initiatives, ongoing rocket and mortar fire and the execution of attacks
in Israeli territory by sea and through cross-border assault tunnels,
the Government of Israel authorized the entry of ground forces into a
limited area of the Gaza Strip. These ground forces were tasked with
identifying and neutralizing the cross-border assault tunnels, which
originated from the outskirts of the urban areas of the Gaza Strip. The
ground forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip on August 5, after locating
and neutralising 32 cross-border assault tunnels, and despite ongoing
rocket and mortar attacks against Israel. The 2014 Gaza Conflict
concluded on August 26, with an unconditional ceasefire between Israel
and Hamas.

The Full Report comprises official documents concerning factual and legal aspects of the 2014 Gaza Conflict. These documents provide information on the following topics:

background
to the armed conflict that Hamas has waged against Israel for over a
decade; the circumstances that led Israel to launch Operation Protective
Edge;

the effect of Hamas's attacks on Israel's civilian population and Israel's civil defense measures;

the tactics of Hamas and other terrorist organizations during the conflict and their violations of international law;

detailed factual and legal information concerning the actions of the
IDF during the conflict, including the steps taken before and during
the conflict to ensure Israel's compliance with the Law of Armed
Conflict; and

Israel's examination and investigation mechanism for dealing with alleged misconduct by IDF forces.

"... The adviser accused Netanyahu of using Goebbel's propaganda strategy in
order to persuade the international pubic that the PA is the source of
stagnation in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.

"Netanyahu
implemented propaganda and lying in the hopes that the international
community will accept his claims," Hammad said in an interview with a
Palestinian network.

His words were a reaction to Netanyahu's speech Tuesday at a conference at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.

... Netanyahu, after enumerating the dangers in the region, said there may
be an opening with the Palestinians because some of the Arab states
“might be in a position to influence the Palestinians to adopt a more
conciliatory and positive approach.”

From both the Israeli and
Palestinian perspectives, he said, it makes sense to “try to negotiate a
real deal of a demilitarized [Palestinian] state that recognizes the
nation state of the Jewish people.”

Rather than doing that, he
asserted, the PA prefers internationalizing the conflict. “I again call
on [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas to again return to negotiations
without preconditions,” he said, “but I also know he has very little
reason to talk.”

Netanyahu asked what incentive Abbas has to return to talks.

“They
refuse to negotiate, and then get international pressure, sanctions and
boycotts on Israel for there not being negotiations,” he said. “And
there are those who attempt to impose terms in the [UN] Security Council
because there are no talks, and some pretend the dangers we face are
not real dangers at all.”

In its ruling Monday, the US Supreme Court struck down a disputed law
passed by Congress in 2002 – just a few weeks before Menachem was born –
that says a US citizen born in Jerusalem may request his or her
birthplace to be listed as Israel.

However, the right thing for Obama to do, unlike all of his
predecessors since 1949, is to make a bold move and recognize Jerusalem –
at least those parts that are inside the 1949 Armistice Line – as part
of Israel.

Ostensibly, the State Department’s position on
Jerusalem – as presented to the US federal appeals court – is that the
“reversal of US policy” could “provoke uproar throughout the Arab and
Muslim world and seriously damage our relations.”

But kowtowing
to extremists in the Arab and Muslim world only encourages more
extremist behavior, because it proves that intimidation works.

Setting
policy because of fear of violence also strengthens the Palestinian
“Nakba” narrative that views Israel as the aggressor in the 1948 War of
Independence. In reality, it was a radicalized Palestinian leadership –
backed by bellicose Arab nations – that rejected the 1947 UN Partition
Plan: the original two states for two peoples. The Palestinians made
the historic mistake of attempting to annihilate out the fledgling
Jewish state at birth. Thankfully, they failed. But they refuse to face
the consequences of their own acts of violence. By refusing to
recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel, the US is essentially
strengthening this distorted narrative.

"... Defensive Jihad takes place when an enemy invades a Muslim country.
...Offensive Jihad, on the other hand, occurs when we want to conquer some
country. May Allah facilitate the Muslim conquest of all the infidel
countries. In offensive Jihad, we raid a country. If we call upon them
to convert to Islam and they refuse, we raid their country, in order to
oust their leaders, and usher people in droves into Islam...."

Interviewer: Doesn't [a Christian] have the right to spread his religion?

Mostafa Al-Adwy: No, he doesn't. His [religion] is
false to begin with. You are employing the rhetoric of international
relations, while I am talking about abiding by the commands of our Lord.

Interviewer: But some may say that this is what it is like in a democracy, and that we should act accordingly.

Mostafa Al-Adwy: No.

Interviewer: You may spread your religion, while I spread mine.

Mostafa Al-Adwy: Who says that I am willing to be democratic? I am a Muslim, and you should talk to me in the language dictated by my religion.

Interviewer: If a non-Muslim country allows Muslims to spread Islam there, and it does not persecute Muslims who are involved in this...

Mostafa Al-Adwy: We thank it.

Interviewer: So shouldn't you allow them to spread their ideas in your country?

Mostafa Al-Adwy: Absolutely not. I have [divine]
orders. I do not have an opinion of my own in this. Allah said: "Fight
them so there will be no strife."

"Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, Tayeb Abd
Al-Rahim: "Decree for 2015. The President of the State of Palestine and
acting Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee; by the authority vested
in us, and for the public good; we decree the following:
Paragraph 1: Fighter Fatima Barnawi - the first female prisoner of
the revolution of modern Palestine - is granted the Award of Military
Star of Honor.
Paragraph 2: In appreciation for her pioneering role in the
struggle,her sacrifice for her homeland and her people, and its
revolution, and her willingness to give from the beginning until now...
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and acting Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee."

Note: Fatima Barnawi placed a bomb in a movie theater in Jerusalem
in 1967 in an attempt to blow it up. The bomb failed to explode. She was
sentenced to life imprisonment but was released in 1977 after serving
10 years.

MEMRI:At a kindergarten graduation ceremony held at Anabta, in the West
Bank, pre-schoolers wearing uniforms and carrying toy guns performed a
song routine. A picture of Arafat is visible on stage. The kindergarten
belongs to the Anabta women's charity association. The performance was
broadcast on June 1 on Al-Sheraa TV, a local TV channel in the Tulkarm
area.

Following is an excerpt:

Kindergarten children, dressed in military fatigues performing a military drill, while holding toy guns

Song in the background: On the mountains, behind the hills,
within the valleys – you will be defeated, you will be defeated. Whether
you come by sea, or by air – you will be crushed, you will be crushed.
If you stretch your hand, it will be chopped off. If you just look with
your eye, it will be gouged out. The defeated army will be too terrified
to come back. We come for you before, and woe betide you if we come
back again. You come to this land alive, but you will leave it as body
parts. On the mountains, behind the hills, within the valleys – you will
be defeated, you will be defeated. Whether you come by land, by sea, or
by air – you will be crushed, you will be crushed.

On the mountains, behind the hills, within the valleys – you will be
defeated, you will be defeated. Whether you come by land, by sea, or by
air – you will be crushed, you will be crushed. If you stretch your
hand, it will be chopped off. If you just look with your eye, it will be
gouged out. The defeated army will be too terrified to come back. We
come for you before, and woe betide you if we come back again. You come
to this land alive, but you will leave it as body parts.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for anything that happens in the Gaza
Strip, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Thursday after the Israeli
Air Force retaliated for rockets fired by Palestinians from the coastal enclave a day earlier.

"...And you, Mr. President, so ready to fault us
for failures, ready even in your interview to cite American failures and
mistakes and lost values, have failed to insist on a similar
self-reflection, and morality, and assertion of humane values from the
Palestinians and their leadership.

Yes, we are mighty Israel, a military force to
be reckoned with, an economic powerhouse, and they are the poor
Palestinians, ostensibly only seeking statehood. But take a step back
and we are a tiny sliver of land, nine miles wide at our narrowest
point, on the western edge of a vast landmass filled with hundreds of
millions of people largely hostile to the very fact of our existence. If
our enemies were to lay down their weapons right now, Mr. President,
there would be peace. If we were to lay down our weapons, our country
would be destroyed. And therefore, Mr. President, we will need a great
deal more reassurance before we dare to hope.

You can still help with that. Really, you can.
Start by demanding an end to incitement against Israel in Palestinian
schools, in Palestinian media and by Palestinian spiritual leaders.
Incidentally, demand similar efforts on the Israeli side, by all means.
Tell Abbas that a governing partnership with Hamas is unacceptable. Tell
him to stop battering Israel in every international forum, denouncing
us for “genocide” at the UN, seeking our isolation and economic
devastation. Again, make demands of Israel too, by all means. Urge
Netanyahu to stop building at settlements in areas even he does not
envisage retaining under a permanent accord. Ensure we do ease movement
for Palestinians in the West Bank, when it’s safe to do so. Encourage
the prime minister in his recent minor shift toward a more positive take
on the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for a regional peace effort.

Chivy, mediate, encourage. But don’t embolden
our enemies by publicly placing so disproportionate a level of blame on
us for the failure of your peace efforts. Don’t indicate that you might
reduce your support for us at the UN. Don’t further bolster the growing
Palestinian confidence that the international community will impose
Palestinian statehood upon us without the necessity to negotiate
modalities that ensure our long-term well-being. Press the Palestinians
toward compromise; don’t indulge and endorse their obduracy. Work toward
a Palestinian state truly at peace with Israel. Help give us more
reasons to do what you want us to do, what you believe it is in our
interests to do, which is to favor hope over fear.

“We can’t just be driven by this sense that
there’s only danger; there’s also possibility,” you said in your
interview. Well then, act to reduce our sense of danger, Mr. President,
and you will find us determined to advance every possibility for a
better future.

You want us to be the very best Israel that we can be? So do we, Mr. President. So do we.

You said you see your job as “to feed hope”
and “not just feed fear.” Well, I implore you Mr. President, don’t
settle for blaming us for giving in to our concerns and our fears. Help
reduce them. Help alleviate them. Give us the evidence upon which to rebuild our hope."

"Hamas lashed out at Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rajoub over the
weekend for abandoning the bid to expel Israel from FIFA, the
International Federation of Association Football, calling it a
squandered opportunity that went against mainstream Palestinian opinion... Rajoub was also vilified as a “traitor,” a “loser” and an “Israeli
collaborator” on Palestinian social media, with users calling on the
soccer chief to be fired from his post, according to the Yedioth
Ahronoth daily, and various mocking political cartoons surfacing online..."

" Israel faces an “international campaign to blacken its name” aimed at
delegitimizing its very existence regardless to its policies, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The international community
disproportionally singles out the Jewish state for condemnation while
remaining silent on major conflicts and human rights abuses in other
countries, he said."